Sasikiran starts with win

BENASQUE (SPAIN), July 7: Indian grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran started with a brisk victory today in the first round of the International chess tournament, being played here. All the other Indian players, except V Saravanan, registered easy victories in the first round. Saravanan had to struggle in the middle game before winning it.

There are altogether 407 players, among them 24 Grandmasters and 23 International Masters, taking part in the the widely-acclaimed open. The well-known names include Giorgi Georgadze, Cifuentes Parada, Campora, Saltaev, Mowsziszian and Spassov. The open has nine rounds.

The Indian contingent reached here after the Andorra Open. Neelotpal Das and Sandipan Chandra were to be joined here by Suryasekhar Ganguly, their fellow player from the Goodricke Chess Academy, Calcutta. But Ganguly has failed to turn up.

The IM norm achieved at Andorra was the second one for Neelotpal, the first being at the Goodricke Open in Calcutta this year. Another norm in a Swiss tournament with 10rounds will fetch him the coveted IM title.